Joseph R. Jones

Politics, economics, and other mental flotsam from the mind of JRJ

Adobe PM, former Microsoftie, recovered serial entrepreneur, Geek. Posts are my views, do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.

I'm still transitioning content from the old site, go there for older posts.

What Guy Kawasaki learned from Steve Jobs

It's always amazed me that more companies don't follow Apple's path of eschewing market research. Of course, it helps if the guy steering the ship has exceptional taste and judgement. More...

Solid State Drives cannot be securely erased? Who Cares?

It's nearly impossible to securely erase a Solid-State Drive. My question is this: Who cares? If you need to perform a secure erase then you're doing it wrong. More...

WikiLeaks, Assange, and Manning - a Nuanced View

I've had a lot of discussions--both online and off-- about WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning. My opinion on the subject is somewhat nuanced: WikiLeaks is generally a positive force for transparency and accountability, but Manning committed a crime. Contrary to popular belief, these are NOT mutually exclusive views. More...

@JRJ's Top 10 Twitter Jokes About the Financial Crisis...

From the early days of the financial crisis of 2008: A little levity in honor of a crazy market: I share my 10 favorite twitter comments I've made about the economy over the last few months. More...


Status Update...

The watershed milestone products in the computer industry are few. You may argue with this list, but I think it's pretty reasonable.*

1975 - MITS Altair “ the first ‘personal computer’
1977 - Apple II “ the first modern personal computer
1981 - IBM PC “ the first PC from the MS/Intel/IBM powerhouse, and the basis of the computers most of us use today
1984 - Mac 128 “ the first Macintosh and first commercial product with a real GUI
2010 “ iPad

Three of those 5 were ushered in by Steve Jobs. Our industry owes a lot to his leadership. Don't get me wrong—he's no saint. He's a megalomaniac, a near Machiavellian presence in the industry who's been ruthless and unapologetic about stealing great ideas and spinning/misrepresenting/lying to customers for decades but the computer industry would be a very different place without him. Thank you for your contributions to computing Mr. Jobs.

* I love my Commodore as much as the next guy, but it does not belong on this list. The Altair wasn't really a computer, it was a kit—more analogous to a HAM radio than a modern PC. I thought about including the Palm Pilot on this list. Also, you could conceivably include Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Windows XP on this list, but I kept it to hardware.



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